Jon Kennedy,
Nanty Glo Home Page webmaster and owner, is a former teen and campus minister.
He began his journalism career as teen columnist for the Nanty Glo Journal
and its sister weekly newspapers from 1957 to '62 and became the Journal's
third editor in 1962 at age 20. He has edited other newspapers and magazines,
and more recently, webzines, ever since. His articles have appeared in the Los
Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Christianity
Today, and many other publications. His Jonals appear here on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays.Complete
index of Jon Kennedy's Jonal articles

One of
the favorite recurring bits from the Jay Leno joke bag is his claiming that because
of new government rules, products must be renamed or labeled for what they really
are instead of what their marketers would like consumers to think of them as being.
So the new Burger King breakfast sandwich with allegedly excessive levels of fat
and calories must be relabeled an "instant coronary" rather than "Breakfast
on a Bun" or such like. Though my recent reflections on the use and misuse
of some frequently mentioned terms are more serious, they suggest some of the
same implications as what Leno is pleading for: truth in labelling.

Intelligent
design. A recent appearance on a cable-news chat show by a "scientist"
opposing the current development in evolutionary debate, "intelligent design,"
got my attention. After contending that "intelligent design" is bogus
scientifically and evolution is well supported by the best science, he said he
is a theistic evolutionist because he believes in God but he also believes in
science. But if there is a God, surely all of creation is the product of intelligent
design. Or is he actually a radical "deist" who thinks "God,"
however that is defined, because it's not as "Creator," wound up the
clock but has been ignoring it ever since? You can't be a theist and not believe
in intelligent design, as I see it. It just doesn't compute. You don't have to
accept any other particular "intelligent design" advocate as defining
what you mean by it, but you have to start by God = Intelligent Designer, ergo
the world is the outworking of intelligent designs.

Theistic
evolution. Likewise, if you believe in God and you believe there has been
change in species ("evolution," if you will) since their original appearance
("creation," if you will) you are, by the common sense use of the words,
a theistic evolutionist. You may extend or contract the limits of "evolution"
to suit your own scientific findings, but God + evolution = theistic evolution.
And that's not in conflict with "intelligent design," which is a given
if God is permitted to enter into the equation. See the preceding paragraph.

Evolutionist.
If you believe in pure evolution or "only" evolution, you believe in
chance plus time equals everything. You have no God.

Evolutionism
is invariably atheistic; the religion of pure evolution unaided or uninterfered
with by any God.

Religion means "the most important
thing in life and the world; the reason we're here." Any other defniniton
is irrational. Of course after you've put that down in your lexicon you can add
subcodicils like "Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, animism,
wicca," etc., and further define any or all of those. But if religion is
"the most important thing in life," whatever that is, and you then say
"religion and politics should not be allowed to mix" ipso facto is to
say you're an atheist or, at least, your "religion" is yourself and
you want to do politics as though you alone are the center of the universe. Either
that, or you/re hiding your real religion, which could be Marxism, scientism,
humanism, or any other ideology, worldview, or philosophy of life.

Today's chuckle

Kids' prayers

God, I read the bible. What does beget mean? Nobody will tell me. Love Alison

Sent by Trudy Myers

Thought for today

When
we are green, still half created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that
the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying
are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone,
of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed
to stay green forever.

 Toby Wolfe (contemporary
novelist)

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